Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of icemakers and, more particularly, to clear icemakers.
Description of the Related Art
In general, ice pieces produced with standard icemakers tend to include air bubbles or other imperfections that lend a cloudy or impure appearance to the ice. Therefore, there has been an interest in constructing icemakers which produce clear ice pieces. One approach to preventing the formation of cloudy ice is to slowly form ice pieces from the inside outward, utilizing cooling rods or fingers around which the pieces form as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 7,406,838. Specifically, an evaporator includes cooling fingers that extend into a water tray. In order to harvest ice pieces formed on the tips of the cooling fingers, a holding plate located on a front wall of the tray is released, and the tray swings or pivots about side pivots to dump water within the tray into a water trough. The fingers are then heated in order to release the formed ice pieces, which are guided by a push plate extending from the tray, into an ice box located in front of the icemaker as the tray returns to its ice making position. However, this device is specifically designed to be located outside of a domestic refrigerator, and the ice pieces are formed in stagnant water within the tray. Air bubbles tend to collect on the fingers, leading to diminished ice clarity.
Another method for producing clear ice pieces involves moving an ice forming tray during the production of ice pieces in order to allow entrapped gases in the water to escape, as is demonstrated by U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0139295. Specifically, paddles extending into a tray cause water within the tray to agitate as the tray moves about an axis. However, such a tray is more costly to make and adds to the complexity of the system. It is also unclear how such a system actually dispenses ice, although the '295 publication does teach that ice is dispensed into a storage container below such that, when the icemaker is mounted in a fresh food compartment, the ice pieces are exposed to the lower temperature of the fresh food compartment and will melt over time.
Regardless of these known prior art arrangements, there is seen to be a need in the art for an improved compact icemaker that can be utilized with various refrigerator configurations to produce high quality clear ice pieces utilizing minimal amounts of water.